The expedition is due to start with two ships which are due to leave for the southern oceans over the weekend to protect "scores of species, fish, birds and mammals edging towards extinction," Greenpeace said in a statement.

"Even though the ban on commercial whaling has been agreed, the international community has failed to stop the hunt," said Shane Rattenbury, Greenpeace head of oceans campaigns.

"Greenpeace is heading once more to the sanctuary to defend the whales and call an immediate end to the hunt," he said.

The environmental pressure group, headquartered in Amsterdam, said the current 14-month campaign across five oceans was the biggest expedition in its 34-year history.

It is calling on governments to pressure Japan to recall its whaling fleet, saying that the Fisheries Agency of Japan "intends to more than double its catch of minke whales to 935."

"We are reaching the tipping point and governments can no longer just talk, its time to act," said Greenpeace ocean policy adviser, Karen Sack.

"It is the responsibility of governments to defend the oceans. They have the chance now to take action," said Sack at Cape Town's media briefing aboard the Esperanza, one of the two ships to be used on the expedition.

Japan, which conducts research whaling, wants to return to full-scale commercial catches. It says stocks have recovered sufficiently during the 19-year ban on whaling to be sustainably harvested.

Apart from Greenpeace's stand against commercial whaling, the group also highlighted the main threats posed to oceans like overfishing, pollution, climate change, and unfair fishing.

"There is one Irish fishing vessel that can take one month's stock of what it takes 7,000 local fishermen a year to take," said Greenpeace global spokeswoman Sara Holden.

Greenpeace uses non-violent but confrontational methods to expose and highlight global environmental problems.

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